World

SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland (Reuters) – Police with search hounds hunted on Tuesday for a chainsaw-wielding loner who mostly lived in the woods, a day after he stormed into an insurance office in the Swiss town of Schaffhausen and wounded two staff members. Police have identified the suspect as 50-year-old Franz Wrousis, a drifter with a criminal

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has opened its southernmost cinema on a disputed island in the South China Sea, state media said, part on an on-going effort to build up civilian infrastructure and assert Beijing’s sovereignty. The cinema is on Woody Island in the Paracels, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, and is equipped

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Tuesday appeared to deny there was any infighting within the governing Conservative party during a visit to New Zealand, where he said the country was near the top of the queue for a trade deal post-Brexit. Johnson played down recent media reports in London of infighting

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition plastered election centers with slogans and planned to rally in honor of dead protesters on Monday in a final week-long push to force President Nicolas Maduro into aborting a controversial congress. The unpopular leftist leader is pressing ahead with the vote for a Constitutional Assembly on Sunday despite the opposition

BALLARAT, Australia (Reuters) – One of the pope’s top advisers, Cardinal George Pell, makes his first court appearance in Australia this week on charges of historic sex crimes, a bitter reminder for his home town reeling from more than a dozen abuse cases. Pell, the Vatican’s economy minister, last month became the most senior Catholic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Sunday it was open to legislation toughening sanctions on Russia as momentum increased in the U.S. Congress for stronger action against Moscow. Two U.S. senators said they believe the legislation that allows for new sanctions against Russia would pass with enough votes to override a veto should

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition called a two-day national strike against President Nicolas Maduro after another day of violent clashes on Saturday where the injured included a violinist famous for his musical protests. The opposition coalition – which organized a 24-hour shutdown this week that was heeded by millions and paralyzed large swathes of the

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s ruling party on Saturday dismissed growing concern from key allies including the EU and United States and protests at home by approving an overhaul of the Supreme Court that critics say will undermine judicial independence. As mass demonstrations continued in cities across the country, senators of the right-wing Law and Justice

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron will call the leaders of Russia, Germany and Ukraine on Monday to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine, his office said in a statement, as world powers step up efforts to try to end the violence in the region. The conversations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Germany’s Angela

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that Budapest would fight to defend Poland as the European Union threatens Warsaw with sanctions over its plans to extend government control over its courts. Poland is moving ahead with an overhaul of its supreme court despite street protests and the threat of EU

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – On a pontoon bridge connecting East and West Mosul, residents of a city shattered by the battle to expel Islamic State cross back and forth trying to rebuild their lives from the rubble. The temporary structure, known as the Victory Bridge, is the only crossing over the Tigris River in the

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he had not yet decided whether to run for re-election in 2018, but promised not to change the constitution to allow him to keep on running for Russia’s top political post indefinitely. Putin, who has dominated Russia’s political landscape for the last 17 years and boasts

SEOUL (Reuters) – Two tourist agencies that operate tours to North Korea said on Friday the U.S. government will soon ban its citizens from traveling to the North. Koryo Tours said the ban would be announced on July 27 and would go into effect 30 days later. It did not say how long the ban

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union and Britain offered few compromises at their first full round of Brexit talks which ended on Thursday, and the pound fell on worries that British ministers were prepared to walk away without a deal. While negotiators laid out their disagreements in Brussels, Prime Minister Theresa May met company bosses